Peter J. Leithart

Matthew’s account of the cry of dereliction follows a chiastic structure: A. Jesus cries Psalm 22, 27:46 B. He falls for Elijah, 27:47 C. Sponge soaked in wine, drink; 27:48 B’. See whether Elijah comes, 27:49 A’. Cried again and gave Spirit, 27:50 There are a number of . . . . Continue Reading »

What does it mean for man to be in God’s image?  It means that on a creaturely level, human beings do what God does and have capacities that imitate God’s infinite capacities. Can we unpack that?  The best way, I submit, is (initially) to stay within the narrative of Genesis . . . . Continue Reading »

Was Adam created Son or Servant?  Is the primary relationship of Yahweh to Adam Lord or Father? Recognizing that Adam was placed in a stoicheic situation from his creation cuts through the opposition. Adam is created a son.  That’s what it means to be in the image and likeness of . . . . Continue Reading »

Umberto Eco ( On Literature ) explores the phenomenon of the “quality best seller,” the book that gains a wide readership for compelling story or characters, yet at the same time employs sophisticated literary devices that entertain and delight more serious readers.  This is . . . . Continue Reading »

Voices cry out with fair regularity against the vapidness of contemporary public discourse.  Lots of voices.  Enough for a quorum, if not a consensus. Less consensus is evident when those voices attempt to explain the causes of this situation.  Bad education? Video games? TV? . . . . Continue Reading »

According to Paul, all human beings lived under the “elementary principles” ( stoicheia ) until the coming of the Son and Spirit.  As he elaborates on this theme in Galatians 4 and Colossians 2, he identifies several features of stoicheic life: 1. Stoicheic life is the life of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Texts are musical.  How?  Both texts and music display a paradoxical quality.  Let’s start simple. On the one hand: The sequence of words is a temporal sequence, and we couldn’t recognize a sequence of words as a sentence unless one sound or written word yielded its place . . . . Continue Reading »

In a chapter of Robert Wuthnow’s Rethinking Materialism: Perspectives on the Spiritual Dimension of Economic Behavior , Emory’s John Boli explores the “economic absorption of the sacred.”  For Boli, the sacred is not some distinct realm of culture but rather the . . . . Continue Reading »

A number of my students did papers on the robe motif in the Joseph narrative and came up with some fresh (to me) thoughts.  Here are a few of them. 1. At the beginning of the Joseph narrative, Jacob the faterh bestows a robe on his favored son, Joseph.  At the end of the narrative, . . . . Continue Reading »

Isaiah is full of wordplay.  A number of examples come up on chapter 2:5-22. 1. It seems to me that the word for “idol” ( eliyl ) puns on various words for God: el and elohim .   Eliyl means nothing, vapor, empty, which is precisely the opposite of the character of Yahweh. 2. . . . . Continue Reading »